Four men arrested for killing UN officials in Ivory Coast News
Four men arrested for killing UN officials in Ivory Coast
Photo source or description

[JURIST] Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] announced Friday that four men responsible for killing seven UN officials during an armed conflict near the border town of Tai were arrested in Liberia [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. The seven UN peacekeepers, all from Niger, were killed [Telegraph report] in a cross-border raid in early June. The attack was believed to be directed at the UN troops and organized by militants and mercenaries. Ouattara stated that the head of the operation was among those arrested [Reuters report] but did not reveal any other information regarding identities or nationalities. The UN Operation in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI) [official website] stated that it did not receive any reports concerning the recent arrests. The four men are expected to be transferred to Ivory Coast [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] in the near future to face trial.

The continuing violence in the Ivory Coast has been the subject of criticism by international human rights groups. On Tuesday the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] announced that it is sending human rights officials to investigate [JURIST report] the recent attack on a relocation camp for internally displaced persons in Nahibly. The attack took place last Friday when around 300 individuals attacked the camp resulting in seven people being killed, 67 individuals being injured and 5,000 inhabitants being forced to leave the site. Earlier this month the country’s justice ministry announced [JURIST report] that two allies of former president Laurent Gbagbo [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] have been charged with genocide relating to the violence that followed Gbagbo’s refusal to step down after his defeat in the November 2010 elections. Gbagbo was captured and forced to surrender [JURIST report] in April of last year after French tanks moved in on his residence while Outtara’s forces surrounded it. The confirmation of charges hearing against him was postponed in mid-June by the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] amid a request by his lawyers for more time.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.